Female voter photo on election day still mandatory: IEC

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday said taking women’s pictures on the Election Day was mandatory and reports in social media about its cancellation were rumors and untrue.

Protest rallies were staged in a number of provinces against the IEC decision and the protestors claimed they would not participate in Saturday’s presidential election if their women photos were taken as mandatory during the voting process.

Incorrect information:

On social (Facebook) pages, a number of individuals shared posts since this morning, claiming the IEC has changed its decision and women’s photos would not be taken on the Election Day.

Bashir Ghafarzai wrote on his Facebook: “Good news, the issue of women pictures on the Election Day has been resolved, women could vote without taking their pictures.”

It seems such rumors were posted by a particularly group on a number of social media accounts.

Ahmad Javed, Najib Ikram and several others users made similar claims on their Facebook pages.

Abdullah Hodman wrote on his Facebook wall. “The IEC decision to take women’s pictures on the Election Day has been cancelled and I urge friends to share this post widely on Facebook.”

Correct information:

Hawa Alam Nursitani, IEC head, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the decision to take women’s pictures on the Election Day remained unchanged.

She urged women to widely participate in Saturday’s presidential election and vote for candidate of their choice.

Also today the IEC Facebook said the electoral body held a joint meeting with civil society coordination group and shared information regarding preparations for the presidential elections.

Chaired by IEC commissioner Rahima Zarifi, the meeting discussed internet coverage on the Election Day, recruitment of workers, use of women pictures in biometric system and sharing electronic and papers results with the central office and distribution of credential letters.

Rahimi Zarifi told the meeting that in order to prevent rigging in the election process, the IEC leadership had decided to take female voter photos so women cast their votes themselves on the Election Day.

On the other hand, Javed Ghafoor, a ‘State Builder’ electoral team spokesman, told Pajhwok they respected the IEC decisions and would never trust Facebook’s rumors in this regard.

Fact-check result:

Pajhwok Afghan News assesses presidential election’s rumors and explains how viable they are or in which category they are placed in terms of accuracy.

Pajhwok findings show that taking female voter photos on the Election Day has not been cancelled.

Azizullah and Javid Hamim kakar

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